CFPL Summer Reading Dragons a Variation on the Reading Dragons

(This is a new sprout (variation) on the Reading Dragons tree carefully tended and nurtured by Sarah Dempster of the Concord Free Public Library. These cards are not located in the on-site card collection. Please follow the link that Sarah has included to find the printable files and editable templates she has created with AI assistance over the course of 2 years.)

Hi everyone! At Mallory's encouragement, I'm sharing the summer reading challenge I designed that was inspired by Reading Dragons. After huge successes at our library for two years in a row, I wanted to make the full program available for any library to use. It is designed to be run as a ten week challenge over the course of the summer, and I designed the cards using Canva with images generated by Midjourney.

Following the spirit of the original program, I wanted to make all the resources I've created accessible to any interested library. You can find the Summer Reading Dragons Master Doc at cfpl.info/summerdragons. The doc contains an overview of the program, links to card templates on Canva, the calendar/reading tracker template, and links to items we purchased to run our program.

Our summer reading participation doubled when we introduced the program in 2024, and we increased participation by 150% on top of that in 2025. More importantly, we have tons of community feedback from parents and caregivers who have told us that the program made their kids excited to read every day and that their excitement has carried over into the school year. I'm so grateful for this incredible program and for Mallory's support in running with the idea! Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, either here or via email. I'd be happy to help!

-Sara Dempster